Blog Archives

Week of April 27, 2015

4/29/2015

    We have many exciting events and activities coming up: class play, final AR awards, class "zoo," PTA water play day, physical fitness practice and testing, Open House, Science Fair, and more. This is my favorite part of the school year!

Accelerated Reader
    The following students have already made their AR goals for the third trimester: Alex, Jeremiah, Brandon, Matt, Josh, Nick, Makenna, Rihanna, Jake, Lukas, Sebastian, Genesis, and Alan.

Congratulations to those of you who have made it into one of the point clubs. It is a fantastic achievement!

100 point club: Brandon (Wow!)
75 point club: Justin
50 point club: Sebastian, Alan
25 point club: Alex, Christian, Ryan, Josh, Mareia, Nick, Kailani, Christine, Mia, Daniela

Keep up the amazing work, Cool Kids! Many of you are very close to making your goals.

Science Fair
    Last week I sent home the Science Fair packet. Today, April 27, is the deadline for turning in your Science Fair tear-off with your choice of science fair topic. This project is mandatory for second graders. They will be graded on their oral presentation and on their written report.
    Please assist your student with their project. Every year, I have some students who turn in a great looking science fair project, but are unable to tell the class very much about it because it turned into the parents' project instead of the child's. Certainly, help your child with every aspect of the project. Help them choose a good topic. Help them plan, research, shop for, experiment, record data, and create a wonderful display with them. BUT, remember who should have the larger take-away from the experience!
    Be sure your child understands the science behind the project. Be sure they think about it before, during, and after the experiment. Be sure they can explain the project and tell us how they did it, what their hypothesis was, what their results were, and what conclusions can be drawn from the results.
    Trust me on this: it is a lot of effort, but it is definitely worth it. Students (and parents) are so excited to show off their projects for the class, and again at Open House.

    Do you still want more? The school sponsors an optional science fair. If you would like to participate, let me know and I will send home the information. This is only for second graders who want to do a SECOND science fair project.

Scholastic Book Orders
    This is your final opportunity this school year to order books from Scholastic. Look over the order forms and/or go online to shop in the online store. Stock up on books at your child's reading level to last all summer. You can't beat the prices. You want to be sure their reading level either stays the same or improves over the summer so they get a great start next year!

Math Test
    We will be having a test on Unit 6, 3-Digit Addition and Subtraction, on Thursday, April 30.

Week of April 20, 2015

4/20/2015

Science Fair
    Be on the lookout for information about this year's Science Fair! Science Fair is MANDATORY for second graders, but optional for other grades. This year, second grade science fair projects are due on May 18. Students will create a project display board, write a report, and orally present their project to the class on May 18.
    Students are required to design and perform an experiment, make observations during and after the experiment, and think about reasons WHY they got the experimental results they obtained.
    More to come by the end of the week!

Scholastic Book Orders
    Last week I sent home Scholastic Book Order forms. I have two more to send home this week. This is your last opportunity to stock up on books for summer reading this school year. I will be placing the order on May 2, so get your online orders in before then! If you would like to pay by check or cash, be sure I have the order before May 2!

Life Science Unit
    Important vocabulary: habitat, ecosystem, biome, pond, tundra, desert, mountain, ocean, biologist, zoologist, living, nonliving, organism, adaptation, metamorphosis, larva/larvae, antenna/antennae, pupa/pupae, chrysalis, insect, mammal, reptile, bird, fish, freshwater vs. seawater, tadpole, froglet, frog, life cycle, vertebrate, invertebrate, interdependence, food chain, symbiotic, herbivore, carnivore, detrivore, omnivore

Language Arts Focus

Comprehension: Main Idea & Details; Author's Purpose; Compare/Contrast; Context Clues

Phonics: Syllables

Language: prefixes, suffixes (-ing, -tion), adjectives, adverbs, shades of meaning, capitalization of names, past tense verbs, reflexive pronouns (myself, ourselves, etc.), rearranging sentences

Math Focus--Unit 6

Adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers.
Students should be able to show how to use these four methods for addition: boxes, sticks, and circles, show all totals, new groups above (what you're used to), and new groups below.

Students should be able to show how to use these four methods for subtraction: ungroup first (that's what you're used to), adding up method, expanded method, and boxes, sticks, and circles method.

Students should be able to subtract a three-digit number from 1,000.

Students should be able to demonstrate how to check an answer by using the opposite operation (such as 100-30=70. Check with 70+30 to see if it equals 100).

Students should be able to compare any 3-digit numbers using <, >, = signs.

Students should be able to solve word problems using numbers up to 1,000.

Students should be able to write numbers up to 1,000 in expanded form (938=900+30+8), standard form (938), and be able to write the number NAMES (938=nine hundred thirty-eight).

Students should be able to calculate how many cents are in 10 dollars, and so forth.

Students should be able to count by ones, fives, and tens up to 1,000.

Students should be able to round a number to the nearest hundred (ex. 283 rounds to 300 if rounding to the nearest hundred, but rounds to 280 if rounding to the nearest ten).

Class Play
    The class is already working hard on rehearsing the songs for our class play, The Emperor's New Clothes.

    All students will be part of the chorus, singing lots of fun songs.

    Students who would like to have one of the special roles on stage will be auditioning on April 29 and 30.
    Special roles, some speaking and some singing, are:
    Emperor
    Crooks
    Palace Workers
    Crooks' Assistants
    Baker
    Carpenter
    Furnace Repairman
    Parade Organizers
    Child
    Parent
    Narrators

    Check the songs we sent home for the words to the specific songs for each role. Narrators will have cards as a reminder of their words, but should memorize them.

    We will be performing the entire play three times. The special performance for parents and family will be on Thursday, May 21 at 11:00 a.m. If you are unable to come to this final performance, you may come to one of our dress rehearsals. We will be having a dress rehearsal performance for the primary grades on May 19 at 11:00 a.m. and one for upper grades on May 20 at 2:00 p.m.

Week of April 13, 2015

4/14/2015

CUE Conference
    I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the CUE Conference in Palm Springs in March. CUE stands for Computer Using Educators. Over 5,000 educators from across the country participated. I was able to attend many super interesting sessions that will enhance our learning and use of technology in the classroom. My brain is absolutely brimming over with ideas!
    The keynote speaker was Sugata Mitra, a TED prize winner and an overall brilliant and fascinating man. You can read more about him here, if you are interested.

Donors Choose
    One new project I will be implementing in the classroom is to have the students write, illustrate, and narrate their own ebook. In order to do so, we need to have some sets of headphones with good quality microphones. Just before Spring Break, I put in a project request on donorschoose.com. Donorschoose.com is a wonderful website that allows teachers to request items for the classroom. Then, we ask parents, community members, and businesses to donate money to fulfill the request. In just a few days, I was able to have our project fully funded, and the new headsets have already been delivered to the classroom! That is fast work. It helped so much that every donation was MATCHED by the SPARK Foundation, which really brought the total cost of the project down.

Speaking of Donations...

Spring Carnival Basket
    Please donate some NEW items to our class Spring Carnival Basket. The basket will be auctioned off at the Spring Carnival. Our theme this year is "Baskin' at the Beach." Any items that fit this theme are most welcome! We need the items turned in by this Thursday. If you need some ideas, see the SignUp Genius page.

Classroom Critters
    Please send in your cash donations for our annual classroom "zoo." As part of our life science unit, we will be raising the following critters in the classroom: frogs, butterflies, and ants. In order to purchase our critters, I need to collect about $95.00. Your donation is much appreciated by all of Mrs. Quitt's Cool Kids!

Week of April 27, 2015

Week of April 20, 2015

Week of April 13, 2015

Upcoming Events

Archives